Arrowleaf is launching a program tackling meth and fentanyl use in southern Illinois. They were recently awarded a $250,000 grant to create a substance abuse prevention program.
Maggie Phetsadasack will run the program and says the goal is to prevent substance abuse before it gets to a crisis situation. One population they're worried about is pregnant women and their babies. Since 2022, Phetsadasack says the DCFS Southern Region has seen the most infants exposed to substances. However, they're not seeing these pregnant women use their services, "So we wrote this grant to kind of figure out why that disconnect exists and what we can do to build trust among that population so that they feel like they can come to us without fear of getting their children getting taken away."
She says there are prevention resources targeted to area schools, but nothing after that age, "Young adults, I should say, from like 16 to 25, there's not a lot of prevention focus on them. So we wrote this project to aim for that particular target."
The program will follow a five-step process. First, they'll ask the community what's needed. Their focus is this young adult group and the people with lived experiences, "What we're ultimately trying to do is strengthen families and strengthen a family's approach to substance use."
With the needs in hand, they'll work with partners to help analyze the data and create evidence-based practices, "And we've already selected a few, like a nurturing parenting curriculum or training for our staff on drug-endangered children."
As they continue, they'll evaluate the results and make necessary changes. They're hosting a focus group with their partners in January before launching the services in March.
